\na range of options for ways that we can reduce the population there
\nand move towards ultimate closure – some of which we can take on
\nour own, but some of which will require working with the
\nCongress,”<\/span> White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
Obama, who has long placed blame on Congress for the continued
\npresence of detainees at Guantanamo, made the closure of the
\nmilitary facility a campaign pledge during his 2008 run.<\/p>\n
“That’s an excuse,”<\/span> “We’re at the point now where Currently, of the 166 detainees still held at Guantanamo 86 have The administration had specifically halted transfers to Yemen In a letter addressed to national security adviser Tom Donilon Although Al Qaeda \u201cstill has a According to the Wall Street Journal, resumption of transfers Perhaps placing an even greater impetus on new policy for The hunger strike has resulted in a number of detainees being
\nsaid Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights
\nWatch.<\/p>\n
\nI think the president realizes he has to take what action he can
\nbefore he works with Congress. They’ll be more amenable once
\nthey’ve seen he’s actually done something,”<\/span> added
\nPrasow.<\/p>\nLifting the ban on Gitmo-Yemen transfers?
<\/h2>\n
\nalready been cleared for transfer, including 56 Yemenis, who
\nconstitute the largest single group. The Pentagon has thus far
\ntransferred only a handful of detainees whose release has been
\nordered by courts.<\/p>\n
\nfollowing the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner by
\nmembers of a Yemen branch of Al-Qaeda in December 2009.<\/p>\n
\nin late April Senator Feinstein had requested resumption of
\ntransfers of detainees to Yemen, citing continued support by that
\ncountry\u2019s president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, in continued
\noperations against Al-Qaeda. In the last few years, Yemen has
\nbecome a primary theater of operations by the US in drone strikes
\nagainst terrorist targets.<\/p>\n
\nstrong presence in Yemen, I believe it would be prudent to revisit
\nthe decision to halt transfers to Yemen and assess whether
\nPresident Hadi\u2019s government, with appropriate assistance, would be
\nable to securely hold detainees in Sana,\u201d<\/span> wrote
\nFeinstein.<\/p>\n
\nout of Guantanamo is likely to begin with non-Yemeni detainees,
\nciting current and former officials. That would give Yemen\u2019s
\ngovernment time to build up a rehabilitation and oversight
\nprogram.<\/p>\nWidespread hunger strike adds urgency<\/h2>\n
\nGuantanamo Bay is the ongoing hunger strike by 103 detainees, of
\nwhich 31 are being forcibly fed through tubes.<\/p>\n
\nhospitalized within the base, and human rights groups have been
\nincreasingly vocal regarding the force feeding practice, which
\nincludes painful nasal tube inserts and restraints.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"http:\/\/rss.rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/2b\/00\/00\/1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n